I happened to be passing by a hawker centre in Penang while a special ceremony for Chinese New Year was happening. It involved dancing and drums; when one of the proprietors noticed my interest, he came over and explained it to me.
Basically, it’s something that people do — both for their businesses and maybe even their homes — to bring them good luck for the year. I’ve seen this before, and I’ve always assumed the creature was supposed to be a dragon of some sort, but apparently it’s a lion.
Anyway, I filmed a minute or so of the dance, but it went on for a lot longer than that.